Bantry Bay's busy port traffic to and from the national oil reserve facility at Whiddy Island, has led to the port recording a strong performance last year, despite its sister port, Port of Cork, seeing trade falling 2% to 9.2m tonnes last year.

As the The Southern Star reports, the Bantry Bay Port Company, by far the smaller ‘sister’ port, saw its total traffic jump a massive 81% to 1.3m tonnes, compared to the previous year.

The overall Port of Cork dip is a direct result of the challenges posed by Covid-19, and the cancellation of cruise calls in particular.

But a spokesperson for both companies said the strong Bantry result could be attributed to ‘increased traffic movements to and from the National Oil Reserve’.

‘We also saw a surge in the need for oil storage,’ the spokesperson added. Click for more here

Also in Bantry Bay, Afloat adds off scenic Glengariff is where anchorage visits of cruiseship classic Marco Polo were highlighted and also recalled.

The south-west port had 16 cruise calls scheduled including Marco Polo (May) last year, however Covid put an end to that including its operator Cruise & Maritime Voyages.

Due to the pandemic's dramatic affect, the UK operator CMV went into adminstration, which would lead to a knock on effect, including Marco Polo which despite been sold, with hope that the new owners plan for a static hotel role in Dubai would materialise.

This however was not to be as plans were abandoned with the veteran vessel instead sold to Indian shipbreakers with an arrival only last month.